Birthdays
by Laura16
Summary: Lee has a surprise on his birthday. A continuation of themes from Goodbyes, Lazy Afternoon and Scarecrow Exposed. Just some fluff on the hardrive!


Lee was tired. All he wanted was to see his wife and family, eat dinner then sleep for a month. The Aziz Case had taken too much of his time and energy. And, he admitted to himself, the thrill of the chase was gone.

Amanda hadn't come into the field with him on this case. He missed her perspective. He had missed how she made him think and look at things. He even missed her bumping into him! Though the Q Bureau remained a haven for them at work, the work itself had become mundane. It intruded into his life, and that was something Lee never thought he would feel.

How had Amanda handled the years of phone calls, many of them from him, he was ashamed to admit, pick up and walk away from her family? He had taken her for granted in those early years, just expecting her to drop everything to accommodate him. Why had she? He knew the answer to that question and counted his blessings.

Francine was right. Lee had become 'normal'. Lee shook his head at the directions his thoughts were taking. He never would have believed it could happen to him.

Walking up the drive-way to the house, Lee was surprised. The house seemed to be dark except for a small light that shown through the kitchen window. He had always been drawn to the warmth that had shown from Amanda's home and he was glad he could open that door, walk in and envelope himself in the haven that now included him.

Lee navigated the various toys left on the patio by his daughter. He remembered to look in the door before swinging it open, having knocked Jenny over last week when he had come home. Forgetting that his small daughter usually stood by the kitchen door waiting for him to come home, she had landed hard on her backside when he had opened the door. She had bitten her tongue upon landing, blood and tears mixing on her chin and his shirt when he had picked her up. But Amanda had pulled a fruit pop from the freezer and giving it to her after wiping their daughter's face and checking the damage. Daddy and daughter had 'shared' the frozen treat, where upon Jenny had declared her boo-boo all better.

The door was open, allowing the evening breeze to whisper through the screen door. Dinner was long over for the family, but Dotty would have seen to it that a plate was set aside for him. Lee loved his mother in law something fierce, she babied him just like she babied the boys. Lee looked forward to her constant chatter and gentle scolding. He had even started to eat breakfast! Dotty did not consider a piece of toast breakfast, but she felt it was a step in the right direction and as she would so often say, she would win that battle yet. Lee had no doubt that she would win in time.

He threw his jacket on the counter and walked towards the family room. It was quiet; Lee stopped and listened, nothing sounded out of the ordinary. He quietly retraced his steps to the kitchen to retrieve his jacket, the keys to the trigger lock on his 9 mm were in the pocket.

His instincts were kicking in, something wasn't right. He slipped into the shadows thrown on the landing wall and crouched as he quietly climbed the two steps that led to the dining room. He raised his gun and was ready to move into the room when he was stopped by Amanda's hand on his arm.

His eyes spoke volumes as he looked at her. He could see the sparkle in her eyes, and his own narrowed in annoyance and question. She motioned for him to holster his gun, he returned it to his side holster, but did not replace the lock. She shook her head at him and smiled. She pulled on his shirt, leaning up to give him a swift kiss on his lips and motioned with her head for him to go into the dining room. He gave her his best 'A-**_man_**-da' look, and walked into the room. It was dark, but the shadows were wrong. He started to tense, then felt Amanda's hand caress along his back and shoulders. Lee turned to her and stopped at her words.

"Well, sweetheart, you certainly do make it hard to surprise you on your birthday!" The lights came on and there were shouts of 'Happy Birthday!' and 'Surprise!' Lee felt his jaw drop, and he quickly grinned as he took in the people standing in their dining room. Billy, Francine, Dotty, and Jamie were all patting him on the back when he saw Phillip who was trying to hold onto a very indignant Jenny who was shouting "Daddy!" at the top of her lungs. He took Jenny from Phillip and gave his daughter a kiss, then laughed as she gave him a strangled hug. Over her blonde curls, he saw Beaman, Leatherneck and Ragmop in the background, as well as others from the Agency and the IFF film front.

Amanda put her arms around him and Jenny, whispering up to Lee, "Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!" Lee leaned down and kissed his wife, to the cheers of the well wishers. Lee held Amanda close to him, her hand resting on his chest, that of his daughters running through his hair making it stand on end. Lee shook his head in disbelief, laughing along with everyone at what he knew to be a comical sight, The Scarecrow ruffled.

"Thank you, everyone! I have to tell you honestly, I forgot it was my birthday what with work lately."

"Did we surprise you Lee?" Dotty asked her favorite son in law as she reached for her granddaughter to free her Daddy to talk with his friends. Lee ran a hand through his hair to calm the ends he knew his daughter had stirred up.

"Oh yeah, you surprised me all right! You have no idea how much you surprised me!"

"Hey Lee, as much as I surprised you and the Mrs. in the Q Bureau all those years ago?" Lee looked at Ragmop, remembering how he had entered the Q Bureau, gun drawn, during the Harry Thornton case several years ago. Ragmop always made a point to tease him about jumping into a room with his gun drawn.

"Uh, yeah," Lee cleared his throat, "That's about right, Ragmop!" He laughed as he saw Leatherneck hit Beaman on the back and hold his hand out, snapping his fingers. Beaman pulled out his wallet and placed several bills into Leathernecks' hand.

Billy handed a glass of champagne to Lee, raised his own glass and cleared his voice.

"People! Listen up! In honor of Lee, we all wish you a Happy Birthday!" Everyone cheered and shouted his name as well as birthday wishes. Amanda rescued the glass of champagne that Jenny had grabbed from the passing tray.

"Like father, like daughter!" Francine laughed as she kissed Lee on the cheek.

"You have no idea, Francine!" He watched as Francine took Jenny from her grandmother, chatting to her and teasing away the storm clouds that threatened her forehead at the loss of the glass. He had never figured Francine as one to have a way with kids, but she was great with Jenny, and Jenny in turn adored Francine.

The evening passed quickly, and Lee and Amanda closed the door on the final departing guests a little past midnight. Francine and Dotty had put Jenny to bed a couple of hours earlier, giving the little girl several bed time stories before her eyes had closed. Phillip and Jamie had helped to clean up plates and glasses before Lee sent them both on their way for the night.

He knew it was tough on the boys, they missed their father terribly, but had pitched in to make his 40th birthday one to be remembered. Phillip had given Lee tickets to an Oriole's home game for the three of them to attend together, and Jamie's gift had been a book on Civil War history, something for which they both shared a passion.

From Dotty, he received several pair of argyle socks as part of her gift, an overt teasing of the time she had found one of Lee's socks in Amanda's laundry. He laughed as he held them up, getting up to give Dotty a kiss. She had hugged him and thanked him for being her son in law, and Lee had answered with a cocky grin that it was his pleasure, only to be swatted with the socks. Billy had asked Dotty about the socks, and Francine had leaned in to listen to Dotty's whispered answer. Billy's bark of laughter and Francine's raised eyebrows had told him his mother in law would not be the only one to remind him of the incident. He was just glad it had been Amanda to find his boxers!

He felt Amanda's arms slip around his waist, he turned in her arms and held her tightly to him.

"Quite an evening, wasn't it, sweetheart?"

"Amanda, you really surprised me. More than you probably wanted to!" He laughed as she tossed his socks to him.

"It dawned on me as we were waiting in the dark, that no matter how domesticated you had become, you just can't take the 'spy' out of Lee Stetson." Lee cringed as Amanda drawled out the word 'spy'. "I decided I had better intervene before the party really got off to an interesting start!" Lee locked the doors, and did his evening checks while Amanda followed, arms folded across her chest as she smiled at him.

Lee stepped in front of his wife and not for the first time thought how lucky he was to have her.

She loved him, and goodness knew, he loved her. Amanda reached out and took his hand and started towards the steps upstairs. Lee stopped her.

Trying to look stern, Lee admonished his wife. "You didn't give me a birthday present, Amanda." Amanda pulled on his hand, grinning at him.

"You haven't given me a chance to, Mr. Stetson" Lee pulled back on her hand, bringing Amanda into the circle of his arms and kissed her.

"No present?"

"You don't ask for your present, Lee!"

"Why not?"

She winked at him and smiled, "Come with me, it's upstairs." Lee scooped Amanda up in his arms and took the steps two at a time.

Lee kicked the door closed as he entered their room. Amanda's laughter lingered in the hall behind them. "Just what I wanted, uninterrupted time alone with my beautiful wife!" He kissed her and turned off the light as they both quickly readied for bed.

"**_DADDY_**! I wanna drink a wader..."

Amanda's laughter followed him down the hall. Some things never changed.


End file.
